1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for sharing three-dimensional gameplay.
2. Description of the Related Art
The video game industry has seen many changes over the years. As computing power has expanded, developers of video games have likewise created game software that takes advantage of these increases in computing power. To this end, video game developers have been coding games that incorporate sophisticated operations and mathematics to produce a very realistic game experience.
Example gaming platforms, may be the Sony Playstation®, Sony Playstation2® (PS2), and Sony Playstation3® (PS3), each of which is sold in the form of a game console. As is well known, the game console is designed to connect to a monitor (usually a television) and enable user interaction through handheld controllers. The game console is designed with specialized processing hardware, including a CPU, a graphics synthesizer for processing intensive graphics operations, a vector unit for performing geometry transformations, and other glue hardware, firmware, and software. The game console is further designed with an optical disc tray for receiving game compact discs for local play through the game console. Online gaming is also possible, where a user can interactively play against or with other users over the Internet. As game complexity continues to intrigue players, game and hardware manufacturers have continued to innovate to enable additional interactivity and computer programs.
A growing trend in the computer gaming industry is to develop games that increase the interaction between the user and the gaming system. One way of accomplishing a richer interactive experience is to use wireless game controllers whose movement is tracked by the gaming system in order to track the player's movements and use these movements as inputs for the game. Generally speaking, gesture input refers to having an electronic device such as a computing system, video game console, smart appliance, etc., react to some gesture made by the player and captured by the electronic device.
Another way of accomplishing a more immersive interactive experience is to use a head-mounted display (HMD). A head-mounted display is worn by the user and can be configured to present various graphics, such as a view of a virtual space. The graphics presented on a head-mounted display can cover a large portion or even all of a user's field of view. Hence, a head-mounted display can provide a visually immersive experience to the user.
Another growing trend in the industry involves the development of cloud-based gaming systems. Such systems may include a remote processing server that executes a game application, and communicates with a local thin client that can be configured to receive input from users and render video on a display.
To foster social interaction through video gaming, users can record video clips of their gameplay, to share with their friends. When a user plays a video game using an HMD, the HMD can provide a very immersive experience during gameplay. However, a video clip of the user's gameplay that is viewed by another person might not be presented on hardware that is capable of replicating the original gameplay experience. Instead, the video clip might be presented in a much less immersive context, such as within an embedded video player on a website. Thus, there can be a mismatch between the original gameplay presentation and the presentation of the recorded gameplay video clip. Because of this mismatch, a recorded video clip of a user's gameplay may not provide an optimal viewing experience for the viewer.
It is in this context that embodiments of the invention arise.